Untapped Resource

Constant change has defined the modern era of business and technology, and astute IT professionals are quickly adapting their skills and knowledge accordingly. They'll have to keep doing that for the indefinite future—with a special focus on aligning tech expertise with strategic business planning—according to a recent survey from SolarWinds. Findings show that corporate leadership has grown especially interested in getting insights about virtualization, mobility and the cloud. What's needed now is for IT employees and managers to get more involved with the business side of the house. Although a significant number of IT pros feel confident in their ability to make valuable strategic contributions to their company, the vast majority aren't asked to do that on more than an occasional basis. However, this dynamic should reverse course in the near future. "The days of IT's limited impact on business are long gone," says Suaad Sait, executive vice president over products and markets for SolarWinds. "Something as simple as an incorrect server configuration can lead to the loss of access to cloud-based applications and data, email server outages and e-commerce site shutdowns. These and other IT issues can have tremendous negative impacts on productivity and revenue generation. As a result, more businesses are starting to recognize that behind their successes are teams of IT heroes who need to be involved in business-level decisions." Nearly 300 IT employees, managers and directors in the United States and Canada took part in the research.